Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kuwait on December 21-22, the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in 43 years.
Announcing the visit on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed that the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Mesal Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al-Sabah has given an invitation and the Prime Minister will hold discussions with the leadership of Kuwait during the visit. Modi will also interact with the Indian community in Kuwait.
“The visit will provide an opportunity to further strengthen the multifaceted relationship between India and Kuwait,” the MEA statement said.
“India and Kuwait traditionally share close and friendly relations that are rooted in history and linked by economic and strong people-to-people ties. India is Kuwait’s top trading partner. The Indian community is the largest expatriate community in Kuwait,” the statement said.
These include Prime Minister M Modi’s recent high-level meetings with the Crown Prince of Kuwait on the sidelines of the UNGA in September 2024.
In 2024, foreign ministerial visits from India to Kuwait include Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s visit on August 18. Similarly, foreign ministerial visits to India from Kuwait include Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on December 3. -4 In which he also met Prime Minister Modi and invited the Kuwaiti leadership to visit Kuwait. The two foreign ministers also met at the first India-GCC Strategic Dialogue Committee meeting in Riyadh on September 9.
India and Kuwait have institutionalized their cooperation through mechanisms such as the Joint Commission (JCC) established during the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister’s visit to India in December 2024, led at the Foreign Minister level, seven new Joint Working Groups (Trade, Investment, Education, Technology, Agriculture , JWGs in the fields of security and culture) have been established.
Kuwait is one of India’s top trading partners with bilateral trade worth USD 10.47 billion in FY 2023-24. It is India’s sixth largest crude supplier, meeting 3% of the country’s energy needs. Indian exports to Kuwait have reached 2 billion US dollars for the first time, while Kuwait Investment Authority’s investment in India has crossed 10 billion US dollars.
Kuwait has become a reliable energy partner, ranking as India’s sixth largest supplier of crude oil and fourth largest supplier of LPG.
Over the years, there have been many high-level visits between the two nations, including Indian leaders such as Vice President Dr Zakir Hussain (1965), Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1981) and Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari (2009). VVIP visits to India from Kuwait include Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah (1964); Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (1980) and again in 1983 (for the NAM Summit); Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (2006); Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (2013).
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah visited India in July 2017 on a private visit. The last high-level visit by both sides was to India in 2013 by the Prime Minister of Kuwait.
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